mx5me

Thanks to the OP for posting this. I became aware of this recently and was both blown away and not surprised (simultaneously!).

There absolutely is the underlying message that the father owns the daughter until she's passed off to being the husband's property. The entire construct is manipulative in that the daughter gets to be the princess-for-the-day and go to a ball that is many little girls' dream. The sly punch comes when dad has her sign the paper and slip the ring on, both not age-appropriate things to do. Although she may not realize the full significance at the time, the framework for her future has been laid. Also, whoever said that the daughters can't exactly "opt out" is very correct, not that they could know better at those ages.

I don't believe that we have the right to tell other people how to raise their children, but you can't deny the writing on the wall.